


Tales From A Galaxy Far, Far Away

by liptonrm



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - James Bond Fusion, Backstory, Character Study, Dreams, Flying, Gen, Kissing, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 18:47:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5637961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liptonrm/pseuds/liptonrm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Force is strong with us.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Drips and drabs originally posted to [my tumblr](http://liptonrm.tumblr.com).

Let’s talk about Finn, the stormtrooper who decided he wasn’t going to troop for them anymore, no way no how. Let’s talk about a little boy, ripped from a family he’ll never remember but maybe found a new family within the stormtrooper ranks, his peers, these people going through the same degrading, dehumanizing training that he was. Let’s talk about him seeing the results of that, first hand, seeing his family shot down all for what, a chance to kill some random villagers on a backwater planet who weren’t hurting anyone?

You don’t leave your family on a whim, you don’t just turn and leave the people you’ve grown up with, bonded with, because you’re scared, you do it because it’s the only thing you can do and stay yourself. That night on Jakku, Finn realized he could become another microscopic cog in their catastrophic plan or he could run, he could leave, he could stop the killing and the horror and escape.

Who knows if he ever had friends who went to Reeducation, who came back as mindless, faceless machines. I wonder about stolen touches, about hands held where no one could see, about how words were meaningless, nothing, that if you REALLY wanted a friend’s, a comrade’s, attention you had to touch them, to make sure that they were real.

Finn ran to save himself but he found something so much bigger, a new family, one that wouldn’t control or condition him, one that would take him as he was, who would trust him on the slimmest of hopes. He found caring and love and found a reason to fight, even if that meant fighting against the people who had once said they were his family, his everything. But family doesn’t use you, family doesn’t hurt you, family doesn’t own you. 

Finn, who took up Skywalker’s lightsaber and defended himself and a woman he loved because she was family, real family, and he’d do anything to protect her. In the end, he could have run, but he didn’t. Because he’d finally found a reason to stop.

~~~

Rey is the most important girl, no, the most important PERSON in the galaxy and she doesn’t even know it. She’s no one, a scavenger from Jakku, a little girl abandoned on a desert planet, surrounded by people who would take everything from her, if given a sliver of a chance. She became an adult on that long ago day that she never wants to remember. But she didn’t give up on her childhood, somehow, even after that harsh, rude awakening, joy and hope lived on in her heart, a smoldering fire waiting to flame.

She spent so many years alone, waiting for a family who would never come back. She still dreamed of saving people, of water and beauty and love, even when every day was spent working, scrabbling to get even the smallest morsels of food. She kept herself alive and she even flourished, learned about electronics and mechanics as she disassembled the giant ships grounded in a war she never knew. A war that was about to come crashing at her door.

Rey was alone until one little droid rolled into her life, until a fallen stormtrooper crashed into her, grabbing her hand and telling her to run, until she stole a legend of a ship and realized that she could surprise herself and fly like no one else.

She is a mystery, even to herself, especially to herself. She runs from herself, terrified of what she could find, afraid of something she won’t let herself remember. Special means important and important means dead. The small survive and she has survived by being small for so very, very long. But she can’t run when her friends are in danger. She has to fight. And in fighting she discovers parts of herself she never dreamed existed. She discovers herself. She saves herself. And that boy in the inherited jacket, the one who actually came back.

Rey learns how to stand tall. To use the Force, to fight evil, to stand in front of the Last Jedi and dare him to take up the fight once more. She gives up on a lie of a dream and discovers a future she could have never imagined. Rey doesn’t just survive, she lives.

~~~

Poe Dameron is a legacy. He learned flying at his mother’s knee, fighting by his father’s side. The Second Death Star blew when he was hardly tottering, his father on the ground with the General herself, but the war didn’t end. It changed. And Poe grew up with that new galactic order, the Empire gone but never, ever forgotten.

Poe spends his life fighting evil. He finds his calling with the Resistance and he never looks back. His family is his fellow pilots, General Organa the leader he’d follow to the bitter end. He fights and he flies and sometimes he loses (and he mourns, oh how he mourns) but he gets back up in the cockpit, back into the thick of it, his reliable BB-8 the little sister he never had.

He never doubted. never despaired, until one long cold night on a Star Destroyer. When an evil man, a boy he'd known, a child who grew up with him, in a dark mask ripped into his head, his mind, his memories, and took whatever he wanted.

That’s the night Poe Dameron, legacy, golden child, gave up.

He hung in that chair, mindless, until a stormtrooper came for him, until a man he’d never met pulled him out and put him back in the pilot’s seat. The enemy gave him a ship, an escape, and Poe gave him a name. They gave each other new lives.

Poe fights, he flies, he lives when everyone around him dies and sometimes he achieves the impossible. But he also learns. Life isn’t waiting for him, victory is not assured, he needs to live while he can, with the people around him, this ragtag family that he calls his own. He carries the weight of his family, his ancestors, and of a galaxy constantly at war.

There is so much more to him than a flight jacket and a name. He is Poe Dameron and his family needs him.

~~~


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn x Rey

They are two lonely people looking for a family, a home.

A desert dwells in Rey’s heart, wide and neverending. She stared at it, day after long day, year after endless year, until it seeped into her pores, her brain, her heart. It lodged there, the whipping, screaming wind her childhood lullabies, the sweltering sun her only companion. She waited for people she could hardly remember, a duty to stay she could never forget. She dug and scraped and starved as her heart grew brittle, dried out like the flowers she could never throw away, colors dulling to tan and gray and brown. An emptiness inside that she could never fill.

A shadow rests in Finn’s soul, dark and overcast, coloring everything he sees. He lays alone in his bunk, a little child, a growing man, yearning for memories he doesn’t have, a family he’ll never know. He stands alone in training, as others point and whisper, alone amongst his squadmates, laughing at jokes he doesn’t want to understand. He feels, and that is his weakness in a world where emotion doesn’t matter. Order is everything, order is all, and Finn’s soul dims, stuck in a world of white and black and gray, a universe where nobody matters, where no one counts. He holds fast to his heart while they slowly but surely bleed him dry.

Blood and flickering flame save him, remake him; orange and white and a trilling beep save her, remind her of dreams she’d never wanted to forget. They collide into each other, lonely and alone, and with the grasp of a hand, a headlong dash from death into danger they find themselves and each other.

They’re no longer alone.


	3. Chapter 3

It happened on the worst night of their lives.

It was FN-2187′s first mission, his chance to prove himself. He was calm on the _Finalizer_ , prepared on the transport, it would be just like the simulations, the games. He could handle it, he was ready. They landed and he knew that he wasn’t ready and never would be. The fire, the executions, Slip’s blood on his helmet, he needed to get out. He needed to run.

It was Poe Dameron’s crowning achievement. He’d flown harder missions, engaged in dicier maneuvers, but this mission, the Skywalker mission, proved how much the General trusted him, gave him a real, personal chance to change the Galaxy. Until fire descended and burned everything around him. He was trapped, caged by the darkest force left. He needed to escape. He needed to complete his mission.

One on the cusp of re-education, everything he was stripped from him by faceless shells, the only family he’d ever known, the other’s mind ripped wide open, his every thought and action and dream laid bare before a man in a mask who sowed chaos and death in his wake. They had nothing to lose that wouldn’t be torn from them anyway.

FN-2187 (he wasn't Finn yet, not quite) took a risk, he dared everything, and he won his way to freedom. Poe Dameron took a risk and he was free, a second chance and a mission to save.

Fire and the wide, empty sands of Jakku spread before them, a jacket recovered and a droid saved. They met and the Galaxy was changed. Their worst night made everything, anything possible.


	4. Chapter 4

They meet over Finn’s bed.

Poe walks in and finds Rey there, hunched over Finn’s still body, her forehead resting on the edge of Finn’s shoulder, her hand gripping his bicep. She looks so small there, the woman who fought Kylo Ren with a lightsaber and a Force she didn’t understand curled over the person she can’t lose. Everyone else has left her, but he’s the one who came back.

Poe feels his heart squeeze, eyes too gritty with exhaustion to tear. He’s been on edge for days, blood and fire and death followed by circling examination and report. But he can’t sleep, couldn’t rest until he saw Finn with his own eyes. Kalonia and all of the medics say Finn will be fine, that he’ll recover, but Poe had to see it for himself.

The monitors beep, the readings look stable to Poe’s untrained but experienced eyes. There isn’t anything more either he or Rey can do. It’s sleep they all need.

Poe touches Rey’s shoulder and she flinches, hard. Her hand flies up and grabs his wrist, grip bruising with tense, whipcord strength. “Hey,” he says, voice calm and soft. He knows this drill, has been on the other side too many times to count, unable to wind down, every change a threat, every reaction a fight. “You should get some rest. He’s in good hands.”

Rey stares up at him, eyes bright, reading his face, his intent. BB beeps softly, the droid had followed him in and he hadn’t even realized, his own exhaustion dulling everything around him. Rey’s grip relaxes and she nods at the droid, at him. Trust shared as easily as that. BB-8 was a pretty persuasive little droid.

“I know,” she says, voice hoarse and bruised. “I just-” she trails off, but she doesn’t have to say anything, he knows. If he had his way he’d set up a bunk right next to Finn’s bed. He doesn’t want to lose him again, either.

“He’d want you to get some sleep,” He says because it’s true. He hasn’t known Finn for very long but he knows enough, knows that he’d do anything for his people, would take care of them and want them to take care of themselves when he couldn’t.

She nods again and stands, body stiff, pushed too hard for too long. She leans over and presses a kiss against Finn’s forehead, a promise that she’d return. Poe lays a hand on the top of Finn’s head, feels his warmth, hears the gentle beeping of the monitor and the deep in and out of his breath. Finn would be okay, he had to be.

“Come on, let’s find you a bunk,” Poe says around a yawn. BB beeps again, a sharp reminder, the little droid was always looking out for him. “Okay, okay, we’ll find us both a bunk.”

Rey almost smiles at that, her eyes bright at the interplay between them. She lets him lead her out the medical bay. They’d be back soon enough.


	5. Chapter 5

It was the setting of Rey’s dreams.

She had seen it so many times, a lone green island in an endless blue ocean. She had let it fill her thoughts, lull her to sleep, on hungry nights when the wind howled. It was her refuge, her escape when loneliness clawed up her throat and she sobbed dry tears, certain that no one was ever coming back for her.

She was the island and the island was her, solitary in an endless sea, waiting for someone to come and wake them up.

She knew the planet the moment the Falcon dropped out of hyperspace, could feel the island pulling to her, a glowing tether guiding her through empty space and over tumultuous sea.

There were many islands on that windswept ocean, so many places a Jedi could hide, but Rey knew where they had to go without a thought. She had played on that rocky beach in her childhood dreams, had climbed those steep steps and gazed out over a world of water, a vista as familiar as Jakku’s dunes.  
She had never thought she would walk that slick, stony trail with her own, real feet.

She left Chewbacca and R2-D2 below, safe in her favorite cove, and climbed. And as she climbed, she remembered. She recognized the call of the sea bird, the smell of brine on the air, the color of the flowers nestled in the grass. She had been so small when her feet first walked over those stones, tiny feet growing, legs becoming stronger. She remembered it all.

As she grew older the trek had grown longer, the steps rising above and above, and no matter how long she climbed she could never reach the top. Only once had she seen the ancient buildings on their high perches, only once had she grown close, but she always had to climb. Someone was waiting for her, someone waited still.

In her waking mind, the trip seemed to take hardly any time at all. There was a stillness up there, a loneliness she knew too well. There was also the signs of life, tools left out, food waiting to be prepared. And then there she was, there he was, the hooded man who had watched her all her life.

He turned from the sea, his presence so alive, so bright, and gazed at her with weary eyes. She stared back, a lightsaber heavy in her outstretched hand, a challenge and a plea.

They had both dreamed for too long. It was time to wake up.


	6. Chapter 6

Order was everything. Order was all.

Phasma looked out over a galaxy eating itself whole, a galaxy of chaos and war, and knew what she must do.

At her first opportunity, she was young, so very, very young, she picked up a blaster. She pledged herself to the strongest of Palpatine’s remaining governors, a warlord with strength and vision. Or so she thought. She rose through the ranks, demolishing all who stood in her way, while the warlord’s strength diminished, he vision revealed to be nothing more than selfish pride.  
There was no order in him.

She moved on, this time taking her loyal troops with her. They followed her because they knew her, they knew she was fair, that she rewarded the strong and punished the weak. There was no room for weakness in that galaxy, no room for comfort. She judged them by the standards she lived by herself, she only asked of them what she asked of herself, that they giver her their all and she would give them all of herself.

Order, loyalty, and strength. The foundation by which the galaxy would prosper.

She did not find Snoke, Snoke found her. He introduced her to a broader vision, a better life. As she served him she served the galaxy. And with her the First Order prospered.

Hux claimed that the stormtroopers were his, but they were not. She molded them, she shaped them, she made them a force worthy of the title. She culled the weak, there was always the weak, and rewarded the strong. She walked with them, she fought with them, she made them. Their successes were hers, as were their failures. They were mighty and they were hers.

Under her, order reigned. She brought order to every planet she encountered. Order sometimes came peacefully, but more often came with fire and a sure blaster. They burned so many, cleansed the chaos in the galaxy planet by planet, system by system. Her troops swarmed out, rank by gleaming rank, and saved the galaxy with every shot they fired.

Order was everything. Order was all. Phasma made it so.


	7. Chapter 7

Sometimes, they soar.

Poe finds every kind of flying vehicle, cloud hoppers, star jumpers, air speeders, ships of every kind and make, and borrows them all for a day here and a week there. He does it all with a wink and a smile, charms the favor right out from under each and every owner’s nose, or various olfactory organ or sensor. They do it all with a knowing grin. Because no one can resist Poe Dameron when he’s on a mission.

They all come back purring better than they’ve ever purred before. Poe’s flown everything the galaxy has to offer but Rey, oh Rey, the look she gets when she’s in the pilot’s seat, soaring over land and water and through the stars, it’s the most beautiful thing Poe’s ever seen. He can’t get enough of it. So every couple of days finds him scouting out a new kind of ship, waiting to take her up and let her fly.

Sometimes Finn joins them. Those are the best flights; Poe basks in the way Finn laughs when Rey ducks and weaves through asteroids, the way he smiles around his words, the way his stories all lead back to that first flight he and Rey shared on Jakku, how he describes Rey flying through that scrapped Star Destroyer, how she made the Falcon soar just be sitting down in that pilot’s seat, and how he was certain he was going to die at least three hundred times over, but he didn’t, they didn’t, and somehow they all made it back to each other.

It’s even better when they land back on D'Qar. Rey roots around in the mechanics, fixing some problem nobody else noticed. She points to tools for Finn to bring her, eyes bright but voice stern as he brings her the wrong one. _Are we going to die?_ Finn always asks, voice light and teasing, a tone that Poe could listen to for hours, and Rey glares, a smile on her lips. _Poe_ , she’ll say, _distract this loser_.

And, oh, how Poe loves to distract him. He’ll grab Finn around the waist, spin him around, and plant a kiss on those laughing lips. Every kiss is like that first step into zero-g, when you’re falling and falling and you never want to stop. They cling to each other and neither ever wants to let go.

Minutes pass, hours, the lives of stars, and then there are small hands and the smell of ozone and machine oil, the feel and the pull of Rey. Her hands run over their backs, her mouth joins theirs.   
The engines kick in and they don’t look back.

Hours later, as the sun sets, Poe will bring out his guitar. They’ll huddle together, the three of them, in some far away corner that no one remembers, somewhere under the open sky, and he’ll play for them. He sings, and they sing together. They create their own music, something never heard before and not repeated again, something their very own.

They’ll never come down.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's Dameron, Poe Dameron.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of a Bond AU inspired by [this](http://piloting-the-storm.tumblr.com/post/146162101634/the-resistance-will-not-be-intimidated) piece of art and over on tumblr.

Lights flashed and ringing bells assaulted Poe when he stepped through The Finalizer’s doors, the walls of the casino, black and red and chrome, rising around him. L had sent him here, her eyes hard as she laid out the plan (some called her the General, some called her Princess, and someone once, he had heard whispered, had called her Leia, but to him and all the rest in the New Republic’s Intelligence Service she was always, always L). The First Order had plans, a weapon, something massive and terrible, and it was Poe’s job to dig around, to pull the pin that would bring it all tumbling down. She trusted him so he would make it happen, no matter the cost.

So here he was, sauntering right into the First Order’s arms. Intel had it that Kylo Ren roamed these tables. If anyone had information it would be him.

Poe sat down at the sabacc table hidden away in one of the casino’s dark wood paneled rooms. Smoke swirled around the players heads and the scent of spice was thick in the air. “Deal me in,” he drawled, throwing some credits in the pot. He grinned at the other players, the grin that had gotten him punched and kissed in equal measure.

He played a pot, and then another, his pile of credits growing. He pushed back after another pot, credits now dripping from his hands. That should do it. That should get him the attention he needed.

“Thanks, sweetheart.” He winked as he passed the sabacc girl a large tip. She looked him up and down, a smile curving her lips. His hand lingered. He might have to look her up later. “The name’s Dameron. Poe Dameron.” 

Her finger traced his pulse point before she pulled her hand away. That was a definite for later.

“You should be more careful,” a steady voice spoke from the shadows as he turned toward the door.

“Should I?” Poe asked, intrigued. The voice belonged to a man, about his height, dressed in black and white. Along his collar glinted pins, First Order insignia. This was one of Phasma’s troops, one of her numbered soldiers. On paper he was FN-2187, one of Phasma’s rising stars, but in person he was stunning. Poe wanted him. Worse, he wanted to trust him.

“You don’t want to catch the wrong kind of attention, Mr. Dameron.” The man stepped right up to him, his eyes dark and serious, his mouth firm. Poe wondered, for a flash of a moment, what it would be like to kiss him.

“I think I’ve caught just the right kind.” Poe leaned in, close enough to feel the heat of his body, so enticing in the casino’s chill rooms. “What do you think?” he whispered in his ear.

Poe felt him shiver, a tiny break in his restraint. “I think you should leave before you find trouble you don’t want.”

Poe stepped back, a smile on his lips and the thrill of the game pounding in his heart. “Or maybe I’ll just find a drink. Wanna find one with me?” He shrugged when crossed arms and set shoulders were his response. “Your loss.”

“I tried to warn you,” Poe heard as he opened the door. He glanced over his shoulder, but FN-2187 was gone. And when he turned back to the open door, Kylo Ren himself stood on the other side. His face was young but his eyes pinned Poe in place. 

They stood there, frozen, for a long moment.

“So do you introduce yourself first or do I? These situations are so difficult.” Poe winced internally. He was usually smoother than that.

“A pleasure, Mr. Dameron,” Kylo Ren smiled, teeth ready to bite. Poe didn’t have time to feel fear. Ren waved his hand and Poe felt his body drop, darkness swallowing him before he hit the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #okay so this has a very 60s James Bond feel #which kind of makes me want #a spy au #in that bond mold #with crazy gadgets and flamboyant villains #and without the misogyny #poe is bond obvs #and finn is the femme fatale #who totally changes size bcs of him #rey is the other trope #the woman who has lost everything #and wants justice-revenge #come on ya'll #i want 10k by monday


End file.
